One of my favorite and most-used iPhone apps is Apple's Remote app. It lets me remotely control iTunes, which is streaming to my living room stereo via an Airport Express. But why hasn't it been updated in over 8 months?

When the iPad came out, I was excited for what I assumed would be the inevitable update that would bring the app a similar interface as the iPad's iPod app. It would be perfectly suited for the device, with the big screen able to show more artwork and make flipping through a large music collection easier. It never happened.

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And now that I've got an iPhone 4, I keep waiting for the iOS4/retina display update to, at the very least, update the resolution of the icon. No dice.

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Hell, one would even expect some updated functionality in the app. How about being able to stream the music on either my iPhone or iPad directly to the Airport Express rather than having to go through my computer?

Are these big deals? No, obviously. The app still works, and it works at half-resolution on the iPad. But it seems strange that one of Apple's few first-party apps in the app store would be left to rot as hardware is updated even as Apple pushes third-party developers to update their apps for the latest releases. Its last update was November 20, 2009! What gives, Apple?